Word: gibraltarism
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Superstition says that so long as the apes survive, the British will retain Gibraltar...
Last week, a few Barbary apes-meat for air bombs-still squeaked and picked their fleas on Gibraltar, but the British garrison under Lieut. General Sir Clive Gerard ("Jock") Liddell, 57, knew that terrible tests lay not far in the future...
...east, west and south exposures, mortars and rifles up to 16 inches, capable of hurling metal 20 miles, guard the Rock and deny the Strait of Gibraltar to surface ships. The naval base on the west is protected by chain booms and a minefield...
...Royal Navy's job at Gibraltar, besides keeping the soldiery provisioned, munitioned and reinforced with men and new parts for damaged guns, is to prevent Axis submarines from passing through the Strait. This it would do with depth charges from patrol boats and with steel barrage nets...
...Gibraltar's security now depends primarily on Spain's friendship, and Spain's occupation of Tangier last fortnight was no friendly omen. The pounding which Franco's guns could give warships inside Gibraltar's moles and booms would certainly be disastrous and perhaps, over a period of weeks, big shells could smash away the Rock's friable limestone-of which every splinter becomes a missile when a shell explodes-to expose the defenders' guns to ultimate destruction. If that should happen, Benito Mussolini would escape his Mediterranean cage...